The Car
Screenshot thecar
Ray and Lisa in a flashback scene in "The Car"
Season 1
Episode 15
Air Date January 31, 1997
Cast Ray Romano
Patricia Heaton
Brad Garrett
Doris Roberts
Peter Boyle
Madylin Sweeten
Sawyer Sweeten
Sullivan Sweeten
Kristin Bauer
Director(s) Howard Storm
Writer(s) Lew Schneider
Preceded by Who's Handsome?
Followed by Diamonds

The Car is the 15th episode of Season 1, and is episode 15 of the full 210 episodes for the entire series. In this episode, Ray and Debra take Frank's old car, but when Debra finds out it was Ray's old "make-out" car, she wanted to get rid of it.

Episode InformationEdit


Frank says that he wants to sell his old 1972 Plymouth Valiant. He's already had an offer of $800. But Ray had a lot of memories growing up with that car. He ended up buying it from his father for just over $400.

The car soon breaks down while Debra and the kids are at the supermarket. She complains that it's a "piece of crap" and wants to return it to Frank...and get their money back. She's convinced he sold them a lemon.

Ray argues that he can fix it up and keep it in good working order.

Robert mistakenly explains that Ray only wants to keep it because he "got lucky" in other words, had sex. The girl he was with at the time was Lisa. And he mentioned that Ray had named the car "Lucky". After hearing that, all Debra could see when looking at the car was Ray and this other girl kissing.

Debra still wants to get rid of the car, but Ray insists it has other memories also. One of which was his old fake ID from when he was 17 years old, which was found in the trunk. So Debra eventually agrees to keep the car until they can save up enough to buy their new minivan.

(Main article for the flashback)
(Main article for Debra's hallucination)

Running GagsEdit

This is one of many episodes in which Robert walks into a room and everyone stops talking, to which he replies, "Is this about me?"


This episode is the first in which we see a flashback to an earlier time in the lives of the characters.

This episode also has music playing during some scenes. The music sounds similar to actual disco songs, but they've been changed they aren't the actual songs. One song sounds similar to "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees, and the other sounds like "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder.


  • Robert: "Is this about me?"
Season 1 Episodes

